Mower.



F. D. MERGER.

Patented J an. 27, 1914.

nw ENT R FREDERICK DUNCAN MERCER, OF TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA.

MOWER.

Application filed February 3, 1913.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 27,1914. Serial No. 745,802.

To (/7/ whom. it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK DUNCAN Muucuu. of the city of Toronto. in the county of York and Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mowers; and I hereby declare that the following is a full. clear. and exact description of the same.

My present invention consists of an electrically heated cutter preferably of a flexible nature and capable of being moved manually or otherwise through the crops, as hereinatte r set tortn and particularly pointed out in the claims.

For an understanding of my invention, reference is to be had to the following description and to the accompanying drawings, in which 2- Figure 1. is a diagrammatic view, showing the cutter, a source of current, and conductors connecting the cutter with the source of current; Fig. 2, is a perspective view showing the cutter made up of a plurality of sections flexibly connected together; and, Fig. 3, is a cross sectional view on the line u-u Fig. 1. showing the cutter insulated from the cutter bar.

shown in Fig. 1, I use an electricallyheated cutter c which may be of any suitable length, depending upon the character of the land and the purpose for which it is intended to be employed. In the present drawings. I have shown a cutter which is suitable for hay and grain-mowing purposes. and this cutter may be of any length. At each end of the cutter is an insulated handle 6 by which the workmen can move the cutter through the crop. Connecting the cutter a with the source of current 0 are the usual conductors (Z, (Z', and controlling the circuit of the current from the source through the cutter is a switch 6. The source of current may be either a portable storage battery or a generator which can be moved with the cutter, or the conductors (Z, (Z may be connected with electric mains supplied with current from a distance. It is possible, however, to connect the conductor (Z to one end of the cutter and to ground the other end to earth, thus dispensing with the conductor (Z.

In the mowing operation, two persons, by seizing the handles 6, can advance the cutter a through the crop and mow a swath of the same width as the length of the. cutter a.

It is possible for two men, with a cutter of sutticient length, to easily mow from fifty to one hundred acres a day, and by increasing the length of the cutter and moving it by any suitable motive power, it is possible to mow one thousand acres a day, especially on open land. It is advisable, however, to make a long cutter flexible to enable it to follow the contour of the land, and in that case, it is necessary to construct it of a plural number of sections (1 flexibly coupled together.

As shown in Fig. the cutter a is partly inclosed in the recessed end f of the insulated cutter bar 5 The cutter bar 9 may be of non-conductive material, or it may be of metal incased, as shown in Fig. 3, by an insulator 72- which, as shown in that figure, eX- tends entirely around the cutter bar, insulating the cutter o from the cutter bar, and insulating the cutter bar from the operators.

The cutter bar is made in sections 9 flexibly connected together by couplers 27 so that it will adapt itself to the contour of the surface over which it is drawn,the cutter bar being suitably provided with shoes j to pro vent the wear of the insulator or bar.

3y reference to Fig. 3, it will be noted that the cutter 0 extends slightly in front of the cutter bar so as to leave the exposed portion of the cutter to contact the stalks. This cutter is electrically heated from the source of current 0, and the pressure of the current in the cutter is sufficient to heat it to a searing and severing state. As the cutter advances through the crop, it scars and severs the stalks. which then fall in rear thereof.

It is possible to dispense with the use of the cutter bar, but in that case, there is a possibility of the current being grounded intermediate the ends of the cutter, '1". e. where the cutter comes in contact with the earth, and to prevent the current being prematurely grounded, it is advisable to use the insulated cutter bar.

Instead of using the insulated handles 6 for moving the cutter through the crop, I may provide the cutter bar g with two apertures g in rear of the cutter a, or with similar means to which any motive power may be connected to advance the cutter through the crop. I also find it advisable, in order to keep the conductors (Z, (Z entirely clear of the crop which has been cut, to place these conductors in the bar, preferably from one end thereof, the conductor (Z being usually the positive wire, and the conductor (Z the negative wire.

Having thus fully described the nature of my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A mower comprising a flexible electric cutter, and an insulated flexible cutter bar therefor.

2. A mower comprising an electric cutter, and an insulated cutter bar therefor composed of a plurality of flexible sections.

3. A mower comprising an electric cutter, an insulated cutter bar therefor, composed of a plurality of flexible sections, and means Toronto, January 20th, 1913.

FREDERICK DUNCAN MERCER.

Signed in the presence of- GHAs. H. RICHES, EDWARD BERNSTEIN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents? Washington, D. G. 

